Bellagio Introduces Newly Designed Poker Chip
Poker Tournament Integrity and Security No. 1 Priority at Five-Diamond World Poker Classic
By Lisa Wheeler
Bellagio introduced two new changes at its
Five-Diamond World Poker Classic in December, designed to ensure that fair play and its high level of security at poker tournaments continue.
The first is a procedural change, addressing tournament player redraws. The other focuses on inventory accountability - specifically, tournament chips.
Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland and his staff ratcheted up security by designing and introducing two more series of tournament chips recently. Using different sets of chips will prevent unsavory players from snatching large-denomination chips from smaller buy-in tournaments and slipping them into play at the higher buy-in events.
Tournaments with a $1,000 buy-in or less will continue to use the familiar "daily tournament" chips. The qualifying events will use generic, solid-colored plastic variations. For tournaments with a $1,500 to $5,000 buy-in, a special set of $25, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 chips has been developed. Championship events, or tournaments with a buy-in of $10,000 or higher, will utilize a special set of chips.
Redraws Redone
In the past, measures were taken to avoid "issues" when it came to redraws at every payout level, and the response from players was mixed. So, tournament staff members put their heads together and produced redraw rules that began when an event reached nine tables, or 90 players. Although it might have been the best approach to preventing player collusion, it also impeded the legitimate players' game. Such drastic measures have since been modified.
Players will now be assigned new seats when the number of paid participants hits the magic numbers 54, 45, 36, 27, 18, and 10. The breakdown represents different cash awards and their value. For instance, players in a very populated tournament that awards 54 prizes will begin redrawing when they're down to 54 participants. The prize money changes for players 37-45, 28-36, 19-27, and so on.
For all tournaments, including the less populated ones, breakage will occur as usual, with players redrawing when the numbers are reduced to 27, 18, and 10, regardless of the payout structure. This is also true for daily tournaments and supersatellite events. The purpose is to keep event elements as random as possible on every level.
Bellagio and its poker tournament staff believe they are the best in the business, and the recent adjustments show that they are always looking to improve how they do things in order to do what's best for poker and its players.
"We're doing what we can to increase the security and integrity of tournament poker at Bellagio," said McClelland. "We take the concerns of our players very seriously."
Poker Players Alliance Goes Local
Organization is Now Looking for Regional Representatives
By Bob Pajich
The Poker Players Alliance, the national organization that represents the concerns of poker players everywhere, is about to go local.
During the first week of December, the PPA sent out letters to all of its members, letting them know that it's looking for regional representatives who are willing to take the fight for poker legality into the nooks and crannies of the country.
The PPA is asking people who are interested in local politics, have the ability to speak to the local media, and would be able to organize visits to the offices of area congressional members, and possibly trips to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to volunteer to fight for poker.
Michael Bolcerek, the president of the PPA, says that many of its members have already shown themselves to be motivated and interested in getting involved. The PPA constantly receives e-mail from members, asking what they can do to help, and Bolcerek says this is a way to do it.
Politics is run at a local level, and politicians who don't listen to their constituents usually are shown the door, as in the case of Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa. Leach lost his seat in November after serving in the House of Representatives for nearly 30 years, and it was speculated that his leadership role in drafting portions of the UIGE Act and speaking out against online gambling had something to do with it.
The PPA wanted to verify that this was the case, so it conducted a poll in Leach's voting district. The poll showed that Leach's role in banning online gambling could've been the deciding factor that determined the race.
The PPA phoned members of more than 1,000 households and asked if Leach's position concerning the UIGE Act "strongly influenced" their decision to vote either for or against Leach.
Of those polled, 15 percent said they were "strongly influenced" to vote against Leach because of his role, while 10 percent said his role to ban online gambling influenced them to vote for him.
Leach found himself in a very tight race with Democrat Dave Loebsack, who wound up beating Leach by only three percentage points. Leach lost the race despite being one of the most liberal Republicans when he was in office. He even voted against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution and favored abortion rights, and his moderate stance helped him stay in office for three decades. Because of these facts, Bolcerek believes that the Republican discontent that swept many of them out of office across the country had little to do with Leach's defeat.
The five percentage-point difference between those who were "strongly influenced" one way or the other by Leach's stance on online gambling could've decided this election. This victory by the "Velvet Revolution" (a label that the local media in Iowa and beyond created to describe those who took offense to the UIGE Act and voted accordingly) was reported in newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post recently, and the PPA was mentioned in all of them.
"It wasn't surprising. Our members have been very vocal and have certainly evaluated how people voted on H.R. 4411," Bolcerek said. "We felt they were taking it to the polls, and this showed evidence that they did."
Bolcerek hopes that plenty of interested people will step forward everywhere, prepared to help fight for the rights of poker players. The race between Leach and Loebsack showed that poker players (or any determined group) can influence politics by being well-organized, passionate, and vocal - a goal that the PPA's new local representative program has a chance to achieve.
People interested in becoming a local representative for the PPA should e-mail
[email protected].
Poker Documentary Wins International Film Award
No Limit Now Available on DVD
By Lisa Wheeler
No Limit, a feature-length poker documentary by Camden Pictures, recently won the "Best Director" award at the
Australian International Film Festival, receiving rave reviews. The
Las Vegas Sun claimed, "
No Limit is the mother of poker docs."
USA Today stated, "These guys are like the last American cowboys - there are some great stories told." And the
Toronto Star called it "a roller-coaster ride with an adrenaline high."
The movie follows the film's main character, Susan Genard, and her former fiancée, Tim Rhys, on an eight-month journey, as the two single parents attempt to save their independent film company. How will they come up with the tens of thousands of dollars needed to keep it afloat? Susan's solution is simple. All they need to turn it all around is to win just one poker tournament. Even though Tim isn't a poker player, he's somehow convinced by Susan to leave Maine and his two children behind, and pursue the "American Dream" on the poker tournament trail.
No Limit gives its audience a look inside the world of high-stakes poker, featuring interviews and snippets from more than 40 poker personalities, including Doyle Brunson, Phil Gordon, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Annie Duke, Chris Moneymaker, Mike Sexton, David Sklansky, Barry Greenstein, Amir Vahedi, Charlie Shoten, Chip Jett, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Clonie Gowen, David "Devilfish" Ulliott, Evelyn Ng, Howard Lederer, James McManus, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, Kenna James, Larry Flynt, Layne Flack, Linda Johnson, Lou Krieger, Mel Judah, Mark Seif, Men "The Master" Nguyen, "Miami" John Cernuto, Puggy Pearson, Steve Lipscomb, Thor Hansen, Tom McEvoy, Vince Burgio, Warren Karp, and Yosh Nakano.
Directed by Rhys and Brian O'Hare,
No Limit is a true story that takes its audience on a fascinating, painful, funny, frustrating, and sometimes-quirky journey along the poker tournament trail. The highs, lows, and in betweens could spell disaster for the feature character, Genard, who discovers along the way that she is expecting her second child. Still, she juggles life along the circuit with her partner and 4-year old son. As the story winds its way across the country, the family winds things up in Las Vegas at the mother of all poker events, the
World Series of Poker.
No Limit is available at Amazon.com, as well as at other select retailers.
For more information, go to http://www.nolimitmovie.com.
Free Pub Poker as Popular as Ever
Leagues All Across America Serve Thousands of Players Each Night
By Bob Pajich
In almost every corner of this country, free pub poker leagues that are held in bars have sprung up as a result of the recent poker explosion.
Some of the free poker leagues attract so many people that they are able to regularly offer their players chances to win trips and buy-ins to
World Poker Tour and
World Series of Poker events. The Dakota Poker League, serving states in the Upper Midwest, and the Final Table Tour in Florida are two of the largest around.
"It's become quite popular," said Brook Lyter, the founder and owner of what started out as the Dakota Poker League, a free bar league that has expanded into Minnesota and Nebraska.
The Dakota Poker League, as well as its offshoots, is just one of many local and regional leagues that have been formed around the country in the last two years. The leagues skirt state laws because the players never actually wager anything at the events. The only thing that players need to buy are food and drinks, and only if they want to.
Lyter has seen his business more than double since last year. He provides free poker games at 180 bars, attracting more than 4,000 players every week in the four states he serves. Each bar pays Lyter's company a small amount, and in turn, Lyter provides the games, league organization, and website that features leader boards and prizes that attract so many poker-loving patrons.
And the prizes are very impressive. Last summer, he sent eight people to the
World Series of Poker (three played in the $10,000 main event, five in a $1,500 event). A $10,000 freeroll was also held last summer. He also works with the
Poker Tour, which sponsors and films medium-sized buy-in events around the Midwest. All in all, more than $120,000 in free prizes was given away last year.
Players win prizes weekly at Lyter's events, and they also win points. The top point earners from each league advance to regional events. If they win there, they move on to state events, where the big prizes are awarded.
In Florida, Bob Danoff runs the Final Table Tour. Like Lyter's company, Danoff attracts so many people in so many bars across the state that he's able to offer prizes that even professional tournament veterans would kill for.
Every 120 days, Danoff gives away three $5,000 packages (to
World Poker Tour events. Unlike Lyter's league, to qualify for the regional event, players must simply win a tournament at any of the bars. The more wins they get, the more starting chips they earn. The championship events are four-day affairs that are held at hotels across the state.
"We've been told that these are run better than the major tournaments in Vegas," Danoff said.
The top 11 players receive some sort of prize, from a full-size poker table and chips to entries into tournaments at the various casinos around the state.
Other free pub poker leagues around the country offer varying degrees of prizes. Several are like the leagues Lyter and Danoff run, but many offer more subtle prizes. Still, the leagues are spreading like brush fire, and games can be found just about anywhere.
Both the men think they know why free poker is taking off so fast in America. "It's a great way to practice the game in a live setting, number one. Number two, it's a great way to be more social," Lyter stated. Danoff put it this way.
"It's a socializing event. We've actually had poker weddings. And because the players haven't paid anything, there's never a fight or an argument."
World Poker Tour Inks International Promotional Agreement with PartyGaming
PartyGaming Will Sponsor Shows All Around the World
By Bob Pajich
World Poker Tour Enterprises recently announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with PartyGaming, owner of PartyPoker, to provide international television sponsorship of the
World Poker Tour and the
Professional Poker Tour.
The agreement covers shows produced in
WPT seasons four through six, and in
PPT seasons one through three. Only the first season of the
PPT has been filmed.
WPT Enterprises had this to say about the deal in a press release: "The agreement helps solidify and expand the international
WPT brand through PartyGaming's extensive marketing resources, provides valuable promotional opportunities for the
WPT online gaming site and worldpokertour.com, and represents a new revenue stream for WPT Enterprises. PartyPoker will receive exclusive in-show branded integration and association with the premier brand in televised poker."
The financial terms of the agreement depend upon the number of contracted international territories, the amount of branded integration within each episode, and the number of episodes aired. PartyGaming has also made certain commitments to online satellites to tournaments and promoting the WPT Academy at PartyPoker.
Las Vegas Sands Launching Online Gaming Site
Online Poker Room and Casino Will Go Live in About Half a Year
By Bob Pajich
The Sands is going into cyberspace.
The Las Vegas Sands Corp., which has had great success with The Venetian in Las Vegas and the Sands in Macao, China, has announced that it will launch an online gaming company with Cantor Gaming, an affiliate of bond brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald. An online poker site will be part of the deal.
According to the Sands Corp., Cantor Gaming will provide a complete online casino and poker destination, featuring Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s brands, including The Venetian, Sands, Palazzo, and Paiza. The site will be launched during the second quarter of 2007 and initially will be offered only to customers in the UK. It won't be available to customers in the U.S.
The site will be hosted, and the operator will be licensed, in compliance with the laws of Alderney, British Channel Islands.
This is the not the first partnership between the two organizations. In May, Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced The Venetian's plans to become the first Nevada casino to provide mobile gaming based upon Cantor technology.
The UK is set to become the largest industrialized country in the world to tax and regulate online gambling. All of the rules and regulations are planned to be in place by autumn of 2007.
Shares of the Sands Corp. on the New York Stock Exchange jumped nearly $5 on the news of the plan.
The owner of the Sands, Sheldon Adelson, is already one of the richest men in the world. He is third on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people anywhere. According to Forbes, Adelson is worth more than $20 billion, and during the last two years, he has averaged making a little less than $1 million per hour.
FullContactPoker is Back
Site Now Running Strong on New Software
By Bob Pajich
FullContactPoker, the site founded by Daniel Negreanu that was made unavailable to U.S. customers, again made itself available to them recently.
FullContactPoker used to be part of the Ongame network, which decided to pull all of its sites out of the U.S. after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was signed by the president in October. It promised its customers that it would return, and it did, launching a beta version of its software toward the end of November. The final version of the software, produced by DobraSoft, came out recently.
Players who used the site before the shutdown will still be able to receive their deposit bonuses that were pending.
The site celebrated its relaunch by holding several promotions, including one in which a lucky FullContact player received $5,000 to go to Las Vegas to play in Daniel Negreanu's home game with money provided by FCP.
The second contest to become Daniel Negreanu's protégé, which started early in the fall, concluded on Dec. 9 when Anthony Mak won the single-table tournament that took place in the Caribbean. He won four $10,000 buy-ins into major tournaments and exclusive access to Negreanu himself for instruction.
Negreanu's first protégé, Brian Fidler, won more than $200,000 after finishing second in a World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit event.
UltimateBet Online Championships was a Roller Coaster
By Shawn Patrick Green
The recent
UltimateBet Online Championships (
UBOC) helped players start off the holidays with a bang. UltimateBet promised $2 million in guaranteed prize pools to participants, but actually awarded $2,119,200 in prize money throughout the 10-event series. The extra prize money came from the first seven events, which surpassed their guarantees with relative ease. The last three events required overlays, generating a total of more than $384,000 in dead money, $300,000 of which came from the main event alone. Thus, the UBOC indeed saw its shares of ups and downs, but ultimately the series was a successful and enjoyable one for UltimateBet players.
Internet Pro Claims Main-Event Title
The
UBOC had seen plenty of familiar faces during its 10-day run, but the final table featured a pro whom even Phil Hellmuth knew and "liked." Hellmuth was commentating via a live video feed of the final table and was surprised to find out that a final-table player with a screen name of Maria Nuccia was a well-known cash-game player more often recognized as t soprano on PokerStars. From the way Hellmuth spoke, it was obvious that he respected Maria Nuccia's ability.
Hellmuth's respect was not misplaced, as Maria Nuccia carefully chose his spots and hung on while player after player was eliminated from the final table. It finally came down to a heads-up match between Maria Nuccia and Fred420. Fred420 had more than a 5-1 chip lead, but Maria Nuccia made short work of the chip difference until the two were virtually even. At that point, the two players opted to evenly chop the prize money, each earning $168,450, and play on for the silver
UBOC winner's bracelet.
Maria Nuccia crippled Fred420 in a big hand in which Fred420 flopped a straight and Maria Nuccia turned a better straight. Shortly thereafter, Maria Nuccia clinched the title when he called Fred420's all-in bet and had him dominated with the A
7
versus Fred420's A
3
. A 7 on the flop sealed the deal and Maria Nuccia took home $168,450, the silver UBOC bracelet, and the main-event title.
Online Stars Storm the Final Tables
A slew of notable Internet pros made final-table appearances at the
UBOC. Jon "Pearl Jammed" Turner not only was the runner-up ($7,750) in the Omaha eight-or-better tournament, but also snagged 11th place on the overall leader board. Event No. 3's no-limit hold'em final table featured both Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul (fifth, $14,081) and Nick "gbmantis" Niergarth (eighth, $6,035). Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy landed eighth ($3,952) in the pot-limit Omaha (with rebuys) tournament. The $200,000-guaranteed no-limit hold'em event's final table saw Jeff "Uli Kunkel" Garza (fourth, $13,000), Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad (sixth, $9,000), and Corey "muchaka" Cheresnick (10th, $2,000).
Best of the Best
Rps5000 earned the honors of being the best all-around player at the UBOC by racking up the most leader-board points for his finishes within the top 100 in the series. Along with the "best player" designation, rps5000 gets the opportunity to play Phil Hellmuth in a $10,000 winner-take-all heads-up freeroll match.
He went into the main event with 382 leader-board points, just 45 points more than awobball44, in second place. Three other players were within striking distance of the lead alongside awobball44, making for a crowded race, but rps5000 secured his first-place position when none of the top five players managed to break the top 100 spots in the main event.
Rps5000 made the majority of his leader-board points in the four events in which he cashed. His results from those events were as follows: Event No. 1, no-limit hold'em; fourth, $8,775; 97 points; Event No. 2, pot-limit Omaha; 23rd, $363; 78 points; Event No. 4, limit hold'em; 31st, $440; 70 points; Event No. 7, pot-limit Omaha (with rebuys); 10th, $1,976; 91 points.
The Right Amount of Ego
By David Apostolico
If you haven't seen the new James Bond movie
Casino Royale, I'm not going to ruin it for you. If you have seen it, you already know that a $10 million buy-in no-limit Texas hold'em tournament plays a central role. I won't be giving anything away by saying that the poker hands are for the most part played out as ridiculous clichés that are as silly as they are predictable. That's to be expected when you're making a movie to appeal to the least common denominator of poker knowledge.
There is, however, an interesting running theme in the movie that I thought merits some discussion. The new James Bond is impulsive and shoots from the hip, which leads to criticism that he's letting his ego interfere with his work. In fact, while he is recognized as the best poker player in the agency, there is concern that his ego will get the best of him. So, an accountant is put in charge of monitoring Bond's play in the tournament in order to make a determination of whether he's playing well enough to warrant the $5 million rebuy.
Now, I won't venture to guess how much ego is enough and how much is too much for the secret agent business. In the poker room, however, there is a very delicate balance to be drawn. On one hand, if you are going to play, you have to have a healthy amount of ego. You need to be confident and aggressive. You have to trust your instincts and reads and play to win. If you play not to lose, the only thing you are guaranteed of doing is losing. Without ego, you won't possess the desire to excel, which is so important in any discipline in life. You have to want it.
On the other hand, too much ego can be disastrous at the poker table. If you get caught up in trying to win at any cost, you are going to lose, and lose big. Letting your ego get the best of you is perhaps the biggest cause of tilt. This can happen in a number of ways.
First, you can take things personally. Players get into spats with others at the table and start playing to beat the other guy, as opposed to making the correct decisions. Next, the cards could just not be going your way. Rather than recognize that, players start doubting their own abilities, take a hit to their ego, and lose all confidence. Or, players see a bad player making horrible calls and drawing out. They get upset at this injustice. They can't believe this donkey is winning more than them, and their ego is bruised. It clouds their judgment and they start playing hard at the donkey, attempting useless bluffs.
Another way ego can get in the way is when things are going your way. You've had a great run of cards and you start believing you are indestructible. Your ego swells to the point that you believe you can play any two cards and win.
You can see a running theme in all of these mistakes. The player going on tilt is taking things personally. His ego is getting the best of him. Poker is a fickle game, and if you are going to play it right, you must remain emotionally detached. That's the only way to retain objectivity. Make correct decisions and don't worry about the rest. Luck plays a huge part in the short term, and you can't let it define you. Donkeys may play horribly, but they can get cards, too.
Unlike many other pursuits, sheer will can't win for you in poker. You can do everything right and still lose. When that happens, don't let it get to you. Take comfort in the fact that you played correctly and, in the long term, you will win. Conversely, if you are making mistakes and winning, don't let your ego get too big. Recognize and correct your mistakes before they catch up with you.
Everyone must come to his own comfort level as to how much ego is going to work for him. Striking that proper balance is difficult, but certainly can be done. Before you sit down, take a moment to get in the proper frame of mind. Make sure that you are both confident and objective. Don't get so caught up in the game that you lose that mental edge. Give yourself little reminder checkpoints. For instance, every time the big blind comes your way, take a moment for a little introspection to ensure that your ego is thriving but in check. And remember, it's only a game. If James Bond can strike the proper balance when the free world is at stake, you certainly can do it on the felt.
David Apostolico is the author of numerous poker books, including Lessons from the Felt, Lessons from the Pro Poker Tour, and Tournament Poker and the Art of War. You can contact him at [email protected].
Annette Obrestad
Hurricane Annette_15
By Craig Tapscott
During the summer of 2006, a gale blew into the online poker world, and with each passing week gathered velocity. Upgraded to a hurricane, the windstorm left a path of destruction in its wake, stacking final tables, deep cashes, and win atop win. Warning: Tournament players take shelter. Hurricane Annette_15 is forecasted to inflict maximum damage.
Within the calm eye of the storm sits 18-year-old Annette Obrestad, hailing from a small town in Norway. How did she step up so quickly to challenge the best players online? She utilized relentless aggression. "I think the one thing that really changed my game was making the transition from tight-aggressive to loose-aggressive," shared Annette. "I was so tired of playing solid poker for hours, only to get short-stacked, push with the best hand, and get drawn out by big stacks. I soon realized how important aggression is in tournament poker."
Since that adjustment in tactics, her results have been nothing short of stellar. Annette has made 185 final tables online over the last few months across many sites. She has won the PokerStars $100 rebuy event three times (the toughest daily tournament field online) for a total of $51,000. A win for $19,000 in a $300 freezeout, also on PokerStars, followed in October. In her first live tournament, Annette bought in directly for $5,000 at the recent
UltimateBet Aruba Classic, and finished a respectable 37th for $12,415.
Clearly mature beyond her years, possessing raw talent and a thirst to learn, Hurricane Annette_15 could be one windstorm that may never snuff out.
Craig Tapscott: What were the first stakes you waded into?
Annette Obrestad: I started as low as possible - play-money chips. After playing seven-card stud eight-or-better sit-and-gos for almost six months, I made the transition to hold'em and fell in love with the game.
CT: I understand that you worked your way up the ranks without ever depositing a single krone.
AO: In the beginning, I was donking around in the freerolls, trying to learn the game better and actually become a winning player. Then one day I finally got lucky and won a TEC (tournament entry chip) for $9. I decided that this was my opportunity to finally play for real money and I didn't want to blow it all in one shot. I took the $9 and started playing $1 sit-and-gos on UltimateBet. I built that up to $150. Then, I moved up to playing $5 sixhanded sit-and-gos. It didn't take long before I was playing the $20 tables. I did get a couple of scores along the way in some $5 tourneys, for about $500 and $700, which built my bankroll. From there, it was just grinding until I reached $10,000. That's when I really started to play seriously and take shots in the $100 tourneys.
CT: Do you think being a woman provides you an advantage against all the men?
AO: In some ways I think it helps me. If I'm at a table where people don't know who I am, I think I get a lot more respect when I raise or bet. My experience while playing with women is that they tend to call a lot and not care about position. They seem to be very stubborn and don't like to fold top pair unless there's an obvious straight or flush on the board. I definitely try to take advantage of it when I can by bluffing a lot more and playing aggressively until they play back at me. When I competed in Aruba, my opponents seemed to be underestimating me. I really did what I could to pick up the pots that nobody wanted, and it worked nine out of 10 times. I mean, an 18-year-old girl, playing her first live tournament, wouldn't bluff like that without a real hand - or would she?
CT: You seem to slam the pedal to the metal preflop with steals and resteals.
AO: I do play very aggressively preflop. I always try to attack the weak players at my table. In most situations, my cards don't matter.
CT: What are some of the online tells that you glean regarding weakness?
AO: The "insta-call," on the flop in particular, often means a draw or that they hit the flop, but not very well. Using the pre-action boxes is also a huge tell. You can easily see if people have used the check/fold box, which makes them an easy target, because you know they will fold if you bet.
CT: Any advice for players looking to repeat your success story?
AO: Good bankroll management, of course. Don't play with money you can't afford to lose. Watch winning players once in a while; there are a lot of good moves to pick up on if you're paying attention.
Green Valley Ranch Poker Room Review
By Lisa Wheeler
The Green Valley Ranch poker room is a popular getaway for players residing in and visiting the east side of Las Vegas. The room is spacious and easy to locate, with convenient parking and valet service. The staff is friendly and competent, and the room features low- and middle-limit game variations.
Green Valley Ranch is also the home of the weekly $35,000 Omaha Giveaway, which is an event conducted in two stages through January 2007. Omaha high live-action players need to play a minimum of 15 hours during each seven-day qualifying period. Players who qualify compete every Sunday for their share of a $5,000 prize pool.
An Omaha royal flush jackpot is available through Dec. 31. Players who make a royal flush while playing live-action Omaha win $200 until the $10,000 jackpot is depleted.
Jeff Fenerty: I am an aggressive player with pretty good success in tourneys and low-limit cash games. I manage to accumulate a good chip stack in most tourneys by using my position and aggressive nature to win small pots and trap for larger pots.
My problem comes in the later rounds. Should I tone it down and play more selectively in later rounds or maintain my aggressiveness? I find that people are more willing to call or play back as the blinds increase. I usually end up donking off chips on botched steal attempts or get trapped by monsters with my two pair.
Scott: Well, if you play an aggressive game from the start, it is going to make it more difficult to steal later in the tournament. You will often hear people talking about the importance of "changing gears," and I think that is something that you should focus on by experimenting with your game.
Depending on the structure of the event, you might try playing tighter in the early rounds, setting yourself up for the later rounds when stealing the blinds will significantly increase your stack. You can still use selective aggression and pick your spots in the early rounds to maintain and steadily increase your stack, but you don't want to have a superaggressive-maniac table image. If you do choose to play an aggressive game from the start and amass chips, you might want to try tightening up in the later rounds and getting paid off on premium hands. Just try mixing it up and see what works best for you.
Tim Connolly: I would probably consider myself a very mediocre poker player at best. Just recently, I cashed for the first time in a live tournament, but I was on a short stack pretty much the entire time. Part of the reason I have such a tough time playing well is simply because I'm terrible at monitoring the other players at the table. It seems that there are just too many of them to keep track of, and I don't see enough of their hands to be able to judge their playing styles. Also, I get very skittish when it comes to calling other players' raises after the flop. It's as if I always assume that I'm beat unless I have the nuts, or close to it. What would you suggest to a player who wants to develop these skills?
Scott: Most of the skills you are looking to develop come over time. When you are playing in a live tournament, there is so much information to take in that it can be overwhelming. However, over time, recognizing betting patterns, evaluating stack sizes, and sizing up your opponents will become second nature to you. This is something with which playing online can help, as well, as all of the information is very clear and easy to observe.
You obviously won't get experience reading people and picking up visual tells, but Internet poker can be a great tool when it comes to math-related factors involving betting patterns and stack sizes. When you are playing live multitable tournaments, it is vital that you don't allow yourself to become distracted by trying to keep track of other tables. Just play your table as if it's a single-table sit-and-go, focus on the stack sizes at your table, and try to get yourself in a zone.
Regarding being reluctant to call raises and always assuming the raiser has the nuts, I actually think this is a good thing. Paranoia can be very useful in poker. Optimally, you need to have a balance of "paranoia" that enables you to fold and a complete disregard for money that enables you to be aggressive. Sometimes I will switch to another game like Omaha, where someone pretty much always has the nuts, to reinforce a bit of paranoia, so that when I go back to no-limit hold'em, I retain the ability to fold. However, in order to be successful, sometimes you need to have no fear and no worries about the money, and just make the call. In reality, the other player won't always have the nuts - or even close to the nuts - so you can't play with "scared money."
Ask Jack
Want to know how a multimillion-dollar poker tournament is run? Have a question about a specific tournament poker rule or past ruling you've encountered?
Card Player is giving you the chance to pick the mind of one of the game's finest - Bellagio Tournament Director Jack McClelland. You can send your questions to [email protected], and McClelland will share his 25-plus years of industry experience with you.
Sam: In a local Las Vegas tournament, the dealer dealt the flop, burned a card, and accidentally flipped over the turn card. There were two of us in the hand, and I was first to act. The dealer immediately called over the floorman, who said that since neither one of us had acted, we had to complete the action. We both checked out of confusion and good sportsmanship. The exposed card was then reshuffled in the deck, a card was burned, and the turn card was then dealt. How do you think this should have been handled?
Jack: There should be no action if the cards are going to be reshuffled and not played. The correct decision would be to burn and turn fifth street, which plays as fourth street, bet or check, then reshuffle and turn a new river card. That way, players receive as many correct cards as possible.
Dave N.: I want to run a home poker tournament, but need to purchase all of the necessary equipment. Chips and cards are on my list, but what else do you think is imperative? Also, the tourney will be once a week and will start at around 8 p.m. We expect about two nearly full tables at each event. What is the best way to randomly assign seats, and what blinds structure do you recommend? I love the column, keep up the good work.
Jack: Draw for seats using the ace to 10 of different suits. Start players with $5,000 in chips and the rounds should go as follows: $25-$50, $50-$100, $100-$200, $200-$400, $300-$600, $400-$800, $600-$1,200, $1,000-$2,000, $1,500-$3,000, and $2,000-$4,000. Determine the length of the tournaments by the time of the levels, using 15 to 30 minutes per level.
Amy: I'm new at playing live poker and will soon be traveling to different cities that have cardrooms. I was wondering what qualities I should be looking for that make a poker room great. Thanks for your help.
Jack: The courtesy of the staff, variety of games, and number of tables. The more tables there are, the more action there is. There are lots of nice rooms, but very few great rooms.
Ask Chip and Karina
I find myself knowing what move to make in poker, but I can't follow through with what I need to do. Can you help me?
Karina: The most important thing in life and for poker is disciplining yourself. There is a difference between knowing the right thing and doing the right thing. Once you can fight your inner demon and make correct decisions, you should be rewarded.
Chip: Most people never get to the point of knowing what the right thing to do is, so, actually, you are way ahead of the masses. Now you must just train your brain to execute the proper game plan when you figure it out. The only way to do that is to practice.
How can I pick up a poker player?
Karina: If you're a woman, it's not very hard. About 97 percent of the people in a poker room are guys, so if you go to a cardroom to pick up a player, it's more likely that you'll be the one who gets picked up.
Chip: Lavish gifts, vacations, and lots of compliments. Trying to pick up a very, very successful poker player, however, would be more like trying to pick up a movie star. Become a groupie.
Please send any comments or questions to [email protected].
Online Hand-to-Hand Combat: Diablo VT Induces a Squeeze Play
By Craig Tapscott
Want to study real poker hands with the Internet's most successful players? In this series, Card Player offers hand analysis with online poker's leading talent. And, as an added bonus, you can check out live video commentary provided by the pros at www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Craig Tapscott: Share with us the table dynamics prior to this hand.
Todd Arnold (Diablo VT): Throughout the final table, Villain2 had been playing back at Villain1 due to her aggressiveness. She had been raising 75 percent to 80 percent of hands folded to her preflop.
Preflop: Villain1 raises to $6,000.
TA: Here, she makes a standard raise and I'm sitting with aces on the button. I had only $35,000 in chips, but that was plenty to work with based on the level of the blinds.
CT: What are you thinking? Do you push against this kind of aggressive opponent?
TA: I had all the flexibility I needed. However, I had not been very aggressive, so I was afraid that a raise would completely expose my strength. I also could not reraise her correctly without pot-committing myself, also showing how strong my hand was.
CT: With two players left behind you, what's the appropriate strategy to extract the most chips?
TA: Villain2 was in the big blind and had not been very tolerant of Villain1's aggression. I just smooth-called, with the assumption that Villain2 would attempt a squeeze play with any reasonable holding.
Preflop: Diablo VT calls $6,000 with the A
A
.
TA: Sure enough, he reraised to about $22,000 and Villain1 shoved all in over the top (with, as it turned out, 9-9) - exactly the action I had intended. Of course, I called.
Preflop: Villain2 reraises to $21,400. Villain1 reraises $170,862 and is all in. Diablo VT calls $28,750 and is all in. Villain2 folds.
TA: Villain2 folds - claiming he had A-K. But the truth is, he would have made this play with any ace, any pair, and probably any K-8 or better, as well.
Flop: 6
5
2
Turn: 3
River: 9
Results: Villain1 wins the pot, $92,500, with the 9
9
.
CT: Ouch! I love the way you played this hand - but, obviously, not the results. So many players try the squeeze play without the proper read. You set a nice trap.
TA: Thanks. When I'm the shortest stack at a final table, I'm willing to take certain risks to accumulate chips. You have to play for the win. However, based on my "easy" reads of the players at this table and their aggression level (power poker players), I would have induced this squeeze play even if I were even in chips with them. The action was too predictable to pass up that opportunity. I don't regret how I played the hand. Decisions are what matters. The results are meaningless.
To see this hand animated and narrated with additional analysis by Diablo VT, visit: www.CardPlayer.com/h2hc.
Todd Arnold is one of the most successful tournament players on the Net, and has also cashed in a number of live WPT events. He thinks about poker on many levels, and his creative play is largely based on a keen psychological take of the game and its players. Todd is the founder of the first online poker-training site at RealPokerTraining.com, and is a contributor to Card Player as a columnist on strategy.
He's No Tiltboy
By Tim Peters
Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book: More Lessons and Hand Analysis in No Limit Texas Hold'em by Phil Gordon, (Simon & Schuster, $21)
No one has been, shall we say, more opportunistic than Phil Gordon at turning his modest level of poker success into a substantial media presence, from his days as a host of
Celebrity Poker Showdown to his
ESPN poker podcasts. He is also becoming a prolific poker author; his newest volume,
Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book, joins
Poker: The Real Deal and last year's
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book.
The Real Deal, co-written with Jonathan Grotenstein, was "about the poker lifestyle."
The Little Green Book was a fine introduction to the complexities of no-limit Texas hold'em, a practical overview of the game. In the new book, Gordon delves somewhat deeper into his true subject, the actual play of hands - in particular, how he plays hands. Indeed, the vast bulk of the book's nearly 400 pages is devoted to detailed accounts of actual hands from his ring-game and tournament experiences. As Gordon writes in his introduction, "If you're the kind of person who prefers the practical to the theoretical … this book should help you enormously."
In
The Little Green Book, Gordon organized his material according to the stages of every hand, from preflop considerations to how you bet on each street given different scenarios. The book also contained a solid overview of tournament play. But
The Little Blue Book takes a slightly different tack, in that it's more like Dan Harrington's problem-oriented approach to poker strategy, using specific examples to derive some basic principles. Structurally, Gordon takes on cash games first (about a fifth of the contents focuses on cash games), followed by sections on the early, middle, late, and final-table stages of tournament play. In every case, he sets up the situation, graphically - clear illustrations provide a thumbnail of the hand under discussion, providing stack sizes, table images, position, pot size, pot odds, and Gordon's own holecards - and in prose. Then he gives you the benefit of his thinking and actions, preflop and post-flop, along with a pithy paragraph of "Key Analysis" - the lesson you're supposed to take away from all of this.
As you might expect, a lot of hands that Gordon describes cast him in a pretty good light, making good reads, good value bets, and good calls. But he's reasonably candid about his mistakes and the frustrations of the game. (He addresses one topic that I find increasingly important, about taking your beats "with poise and professionalism." Amen!)
But, interestingly, Gordon's goals for
The Little Blue Book are somewhat different, and more ambitious, than those of the earlier how-to book. In
The Little Green Book, he outlined how to play a set, how to play a flush draw, what to do when you flop top pair with top kicker, and so on. In that book, essentially, he was outlining level-one thinking: play based on your cards and their connection to the community cards. There's some of that here, but the best sections get into level-two thinking (strategy based on what you believe your opponent has) and level-three thinking (strategy based on what you think your opponent thinks
you have). He's particularly good on extracting value from your big hands (in no-limit, that's one of the most difficult skills to master). And his "mental checklists" for decision-making represent an insightful, systematic way of assessing the many factors that go into a particular hand, from all of the objective elements, like hand values and pot odds, to the much more subjective ones, like understanding an opponent's state of mind.
It's impossible to summarize Gordon's book, but that's not a criticism: It's impossible to summarize no-limit Texas hold'em, a game of infinite complexity. As Gordon acknowledges, poker is a game of situations, not absolutes. The correct (but virtually useless) answer to almost any hand scenario is "it depends." This brings me to my larger, more philosophical point about poker books: Don't approach them seeking the answer; approach them seeking pathways to possible answers and, most important, to the development of your own style and approach. Learn the "textbook" approach, and then learn how to subvert that on occasion.
It will be no surprise to readers of this column that I believe in the potential of poker books (they've certainly improved my own game immensely - though the more I play and the more I learn, the more I realize just how much I still don't understand). But I recognize the limitations of book-learning, even when the book in question is a good one, like Gordon's. It's easy enough to learn the fundamentals of poker, but it's only with experience that you can learn to execute, especially in marginal situations.
Phil Gordon was, no doubt, an excellent student, and these days, he has made himself an excellent student of poker. By that I mean that he's read and absorbed everything, and his insights are sound combinations of knowledge and experience. And he has reconstituted all of that learning in easy-to-understand, highly readable, often entertaining prose. All of this makes
The Little Blue Book a useful read for average players trying to improve. You won't discover anything earth-shatteringly new here, but that's fine. If you want to become a better player, Gordon can help you get there.
